New Catholic Archbishop is confronted by 93yo Eileen Piper over child abuse

By Ben Schneiders & Royce Millar

30 August 2018 — 5:42pm

A 93-year-old woman publicly confronted the new Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne on Thursday with the harrowing story of how the clergy sexually abused her late daughter.

Eileen Piper, her face stricken with grief, presented Archbishop Peter Comensoli with a picture of her daughter Stephanie in her coffin after she took her own life in 1994. She was 32.

Twenty-four years later, Ms Piper says she is still seeking an apology from the Catholic Church.

Eileen Piper, 93, shows Catholic archbishop Peter Comensoli a picture of her daughter at his Melbourne Press Club appearance.Credit:AAP

Archbishop Comensoli, speaking at a Melbourne Press Club function on Thursday, walked from the stage to comfort the elderly Ms Piper, whose story was told by her lawyer Judy Courtin.

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The church had not believed Stephanie’s allegations of rape and abuse at the hands of father Gerard Mulvale in suburban Syndal. He was later convicted of other sex crimes.

''Ms Piper would like the the church to see this, and to see what the church ultimately drove her daughter to do,'' Ms Courtin said. ''Your grace, this is Stephanie Piper's 'me too' moment.''

''Stephanie was told the alleged sex crimes never happened and that basically she was a liar,'' Ms Courtin said. ''Stephanie was threatened, untruths were manufactured, seriously tarnishing her character or, using the present day vernacular, there was victim-blaming and slut-shaming.''

I hope he’s different, but time will tell.

Chrissie Foster, whose two daughters were abused by a priest

Archbishop Comensoli earlier spoke of the "horrendous" crimes committed in the church and how they had shattered lives.

Survivors, he said, ''carry deep wounds of grief and anger at this profoundly shameful past and demand justice, healing and change, not just an apology.''

''As a survivor they were shattered further when church leaders failed to believe them,'' he said.

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''Yet people still want to say 'I am a Catholic Christian and no monstrous perpetrator or compromised leader will take Jesus from me'.''

The new archbishop struck a more conciliatory tone than his predecessors in the role, George Pell and Denis Hart.

Chrissie Foster, whose two daughters were abused by a priest, also confronted the Archbishop about the church’s handling of abuse. Later she told The Age that she had heard this kind of talk before from church leaders.

''It’s the ‘church talk’ I just can’t stand,'' Ms Foster said. ''It’s just not good enough. People take them at face value if they don’t know better.''

Archbishop Comensoli, a former bishop of Broken Bay in NSW, also flagged greater transparency from the church when it came to its financial affairs.

In February a six month investigation by The Age revealed the extraordinary wealth of the church and identified assets of at least $9 billion in Victoria and $30 billion nationwide.

It raised serious questions about the church’s handling of compensation to abuse victims and misleading evidence it had provided to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Archbishop Comensoli said he did not yet know the assets of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, the largest in Australia. He flagged releasing an annual report that included financial and other information on the church in the way that companies or government departments do.

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But he would not be drawn on the specific detail on how the church would value its property. Traditionally it has used historic cost, which can grossly undervalues its worth.

However, the new Archbishop conceded that the church had become about buildings and what happens in them and ''the work of priests has become more managerial in word and deed".

''We have become big in stature, arguably at the cost of humbleness in disposition.''

On questions on whether the seal of confession should be broken to report abuse and on the ordination of women, Archbishop Comensoli stuck to traditional church positions.

''I uphold the seal of confessional,'' he said, while saying he supported mandatory reporting outside of confession. ''I have been doing that for ten years in NSW.''

He said he did not support the ordination of women as priests but stressed strong support for women in senior church administrative roles.

Archbishop Comensoli is just the ninth Archbishop of Melbourne in more than 170 years. He said the church has taken a long view of the world.

''To borrow a racing term, we Archbishops of Melbourne do seem to be stayers rather than sprinters.''

Ben Schneiders is an investigative reporter at The Age with a background reporting on industrial relations, business, politics and social issues. A two-time Walkley Award winner, he has been part of The Age’s investigative unit since 2015.